Join us on Wednesday, September 16th at 6 pm in downtown Brooklyn for our Shut Rikers Meeting. We’re coming together with neighbors to collectively build community-based power to shut down the jail complex once and for all. In these meetings, we come together with our neighbors to build community-based power to shut down the jail complex. We spend time powermapping the Mamdani administration and city council, discussing action steps we can take together, and more.
To attend our next Shut Rikers meeting on Wednesday, September 16th from 6:00 - 7:30 pm, register here.
On August 25, news broke that yet another person has died in the custody of the NYC Department of Correction (DOC). Clarence Woodward is at least the 7th person to die in DOC custody since Zohran Mamdani became mayor in January 2026.
Here’s a statement by Katal member Kevin Valentine: “Clarence Woodward is the 2nd person to die in DOC custody in less than a week, and the 7th person to die this year. I express my condolences to his family.
I was detained at Rikers; I know how dangerous and horrific a place it is. No human being should be detained in those facilities. This death shows how vitally important it is for an immediate oversight review and actual reform to be implemented by Mayor Mamdani and NYC officials, the State Commission of Correction, and the Federal Remediation Manager. Rikers must be shut down. There is no time to delay this while lives are on the line.”
If you have any questions, please contact Melanie at Melanie@katalcenter.org.
